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Industrial-Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management are similar fields which go hand in hand. If, for example, an employee reports late to work every day, and gets summoned, an Industrial-Organizational psychologist goes ahead to ask questions like “where do you stay?”, “how comfortable it is to come from your home?”, or “would you be interested in switching to a closer branch?”.
While the psychologist is at this, the human resource manager ponders on whether to retain or fire the employee while waiting for the psychologist behavioral report and assessment. It is therefore simple to say that, Psychologist look out for behavioral patterns while HR takes the actions.
What is Human Resource Management?
Human Resource Management (HRM) is an important resource that finds place in an organization. The HRM is in charge of interviewing, hiring, disciplining and terminating employees’ contracts. HRM also ensure compensation packages, benefit plans and insurance packages of employees whilst also tending to staff discomfort. Most human resources also handle payroll and timekeeping of employees.
What is industrial-organizational psychology?
This is the application of psychology principles in a corporate organization. They take note of productivity, behavior, balance, and development at work. To help understand employees better, they give team-building tasks, coach employees and give pre-employment/behavioral pattern test.
Since HR alone cannot efficiently handle employees’ well being, this makes industrial-organizational psychology a key subject in the organization. The two go together or can be merged together as one. Their major aim is to make the workplace a desirable place for all and sundry.
Role of organizational psychology in HR management
What a typical company is more interested in is profit. Investors won’t invest in a firm for being too classy or popular; they invest because of returns and dividends. Every single establishment is profit driven. You must deliver quality goods and services to get quality profit and quality profit is directly dependent on high performing individuals.
Understanding human psychology is a requirement to helping employees get maximum result, stay motivated, and also achieve their goals. It is not enough to just discipline or fire employees, sit them down, counsel and question to know what happened and how they feel before taking decisions. This will help get a good result.
Industrial-organizational psychology must be seen as a better half of human management where one cannot do without the other. The aim of industrial-organizational psychology is to increase and maintain work productivity.
Psychologists do not only counsel, but observe employees and sometimes, employers’ interaction and reaction to determine where the issue lies. They review company’s policies to help the employer and employee. They also learn from past issues with employees so as to make good hiring decisions.
I want you to know your employees can become more productive and have changed behavior towards work if they are given the right environment.
To achieve this, we must understand employees well and to understand them, industrial-organizational psychology must very well blend with human resource management. They are both forces on their own, merging them together will give even a better force.
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